Carmody wrote:All books of fiction are essentially verbal Rorschach pictures to enjoy or not at a chosen time in one’s life. Timing and planetary alignment is everything when it comes to whether or not a book clicks..
Probably mentioned this before. In high school on a night table beside my bed lay a copy of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. Maugham was English but à propos of this thread was born in Paris, or so says Wikipedia. Anyway, one night I picked up the book, tried to read it, put in down after a page or two. After it lay on the table for a few months, I tried again. Still, nothing. Another few months, picked it up a third time, and could not put it down until I finished it. Well, there were meals to eat and school to go to, but I finished it in a week or two, and the paperback is more than 700 pages.
So, yes, Rorschach is a good comparison.
And which is why I still give books like Madame Bovary a chance. Maybe, some day . . .